(8)Pokémon Red/Blue/Yellow/Green vs (3)Super Mario 64 2015
Results Bonus Wednesday, December 16, 2015 Ulti's Analysis "Death By Rally" Allen was nice enough to give us 4 simultaneous bonus polls after this contest, and while none of the matches were particularly good, bonus polls is always better than no bonus polls. The third bonus poll was pretty neat, even though it was still a blowout, and was the only one that finished closer than 60-40. Allen took two games that Undertale rallied past and put them in a poll together, and him being cool enough to pick Pokemon vs Mario 64 meant that we got a pretty decent indicator of the whole Mario 3 vs Mario World vs Mario 64 hierarchy. If you take this bonus poll literally, the order is probably Mario World > Mario 3 > Mario 64. Mario 3 did better against Pokemon pre-rally than Mario 64 did in this match, and we have direct evidence of Mario World being stronger than Mario 3: http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/3506-contest-semifinal-smw-smb-3-ff7-zelda-lttp FF7 was by itself in that match, so it was no factor for the comparison. In that match, Mario World finished higher than 3 even with Link to the Past in the poll. And LTTP has far more overlap with World than 3, so in reality it would have hurt World more. World won anyway. Until I see further evidence, I'm going with World > 3 > 64. This match also proved me hilariously wrong about believing in 3 > Pokemon one final time. Not only would Pokemon have annihilated the Mario games, but there isn't a doubt in my mind it would have won this contest had Undertale and Melee not rallied their balls off. Assuming a non-Undertale contest path, you get Pokemon beating Tetris, Mario 3, Sonic 2, Mario World, then Mario 64. Chrono Trigger probably wins against Melee with no rally, I won't argue that. But Chrono Trigger vs Pokemon is a debate worth having and a match I'd love to see, but I legitimately don't see how Chrono Trigger wins that. Undertale and Melee not getting bandwagoned doesn't mean nothing would, and in a semifinal of CT vs Pokemon and Ocarina vs SMRPG, Pokemon is the rally bait. I really think it would have beaten Chrono Trigger and won the contest, but we have no way of knowing. It did give Undertale its toughest test outside Melee though, which I think counts for a lot. I see no reason Pokemon couldn't repeat that rally in a contest semifinal against a game that always chokes. When and if we get another games contest, CT vs RBYG is absolutely a match that needs to happen. Ctes' Analysis The fourth of our four bonus matches, labeled “2009 Rematch”. This match just had to be there. I mean, Chrono Trigger vs. Ocarina of Time would likely be way more exiting, but first of all, spillover would likely ruin it, and secondly, there wouldn't really be any sense in having such a match. I suppose it could go under the “Death by Rally” label as all our elites games beside A Link to the Past technically lost that way, but in Ocarina of Time's situation, it was a bit different. Sure, it was a rally, but at this point Undertale was more than that. The same could be said of Super Mario 64, but at least that game looked like it was actually in the match it lost. Ocarina of Time's death was a lot more than just by rally. I probably wouldn't have named it 2009 Rematch. It's not wrong of course, but a lot of matches could be made where that label fits. “Previous Champion Battle” or something along those lines would've been better in my opinion, but at least throwing “finale” into this label would've been nice. This match was never in doubt at all. It would be an easy win for Ocarina of Time. Spillover from the final seems to have affected the match in Ocarina of Time's favor, but spillover or not, Final Fantasy VII is significantly behind Ocarina of Time these days. Maybe it'll get a boost when the remake comes or if the main nostalgic era of GameFAQs becomes it's time. It boosted Chrono Trigger, but that game aged better as well. That said, it just seemed right to have this match. They are the defending champions and not just that. Link and Cloud have had so many finales that both games have gotten this “always wins” thing going for them, even though that's certainly not fair to Final Fantasy VII these days. I guess to people that disliked seeing rallies take over, the classic final match was brought. It's also nice in that sense Undertale wasn't in the bonus matches. It deserves to I suppose, but coming right after the finale, it would've just been very boring seeing it destroy further. I'm sure everyone can agree that there would be no point in having Undertale in a bonus match. As for this one, I gotta admit myself that it's nice to have the very last match be these two going against each other. Would've thought that if it was the finale too, but as a bonus match, it's just a solid ending to a solid contest. External Links * Match Updates Category:2015 Contest Matches